Latest from the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) in Ukraine based on information received until 27 June 2014, 18:00 (Kyiv time)

Tensions remained in parts of Donbas. The situation was calm elsewhere across the country.

Late on 26 June the four SMM monitors from the Donetsk team were released after 32 days of detention. The four SMM monitors from the Luhansk team are still detained.

In Kharkiv the situation remained calm.

The situation in parts of Luhansk and Donetsk regions was tense and unchanged when compared to the previous reporting period.

Late on 26 June the SMM monitors from the Donetsk team were released after 32 days of detention. They were brought to Donetsk by ‘Donetsk People’s Republic’ representatives and transported onward by the SMM.

The deputy head of the Luhansk regional police informed the SMM that the major concern of the police was security surrounding the wheat harvest in the next few weeks. The police are supposed to distribute the wheat to the grain silos in the east (areas occupied by armed opponents of the government) and to the north of the region. The police are elaborating a plan for this.

The deputy of the regional police informed the SMM that the police and military would ensure that food and medical supplies get through to Luhansk city. The SMM later on monitored a checkpoint and witnessed this first hand. According to the interlocutor, irregular armed groups had continued to raid mining facilities to seize explosives.  A number of bridges had been found to have been mined in the last few weeks, but had been rendered safe by the Ukrainian army. The SMM was informed that the police lack body armor, bomb/explosive detection equipment and forensics to deal with the potential Improvised Explosive Devices threat (IED).

The SMM observed at a Ukrainian military checkpoint in Svatovo two buses from Lysichansk, Severodonetsk and Rubizhne full of IDPs. The SMM spoke to the driver and some passengers who claimed that at least four buses of women and children were leaving each day.

The situation in Dnepropetrovsk, Kherson, Odessa, Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk and Lviv was calm.

In Ivano-Frankivsk, the SMM was informed by the Head of the Greek National and Cultural  community in Kosiv (90 km southeast of Ivano-Frankivsk) that his house had been defaced  by graffiti which contained a flag of the Russian Federation, the ‘Donetsk People’s Republic’  and the letters “DNR” (which is actually the abbreviation for ‘DPR’). The SMM went to see  the building and talked to the head who claimed that members of Kosiv ‘Self-Defence’   marked his house as “pro-Russian” and he felt that his life and lives of his family might be in  danger. Given the fact that he is the head and founder of the Greek National-Cultural

Community, he also understood this graffiti as a threat against this particular community. He immediately reported the incident to the local police in Kosiv and a short investigation was conducted on the spot. The incident was also reported to the Head of Kosiv District Administration.

In Lviv, the SMM received information from the Regional Social Protection Department (RSPD) on the official statistics on IDPs in the region. According to the RSPD, the current number of registered IDPs in Lviv region is 2,900, of whom 900 came from Luhansk and Donetsk regions. The rates of IDP arrivals during this week were 50-60 persons per day. As there were no facilities for their accommodation in the city of Lviv, they were accommodated outside the city in hotels and sanatoriums (Truskavets and Morshyn) run by the regional administration. The Deputy Head estimated that the number of registered IDPs will continue increase.

The situation in Kyiv was calm.